Destructive Mass
by Chspitfire
Summary: John Shepard started out with a rough life. Orphaned and left to raise his younger sister alone. Rising from the underworld of a decrepit rotting city to the ranks of the Alliance and on to becoming the Saviour of the Galaxy.
1. Prologue 1

**Just starting a new Mass Effect story following from pre-ME1 all the way to post-Crucible. This will be a different kind of story in that it may be slightly AU but not a lot it will still follow the main canon of the story and characters just with some changes that I think will make it better. This is an MShep story. Earthborn and I'm currently not sure where I'm going to take him as far as Para-Rene or romance options so we'll find out together :). **

**As is to be expected all rights belong to Bioware and not me.**

The rain gently cascaded down the windows of the dimly lit apartment that overlooked the bustling city of Vancouver. It was late afternoon and the rain storm that had blown in during the early morning was gradually starting to dissipate. In the low light the moisture in the air seemed to give the city a clean sheen that would wash away much of the dirt and grime from its streets. To many a city like this would be the pinnacle of human culture, civilised and ordered, where people followed the rules and safe. To most this was what life was but to the man looking out the window over the city he could see what was truly hidden within the depths of a city such as this. Crime ,sin , filth and debauchery among many other of humanity's finer vices, people selling themselves or whatever they can find or steal just to get their next fix or a measly scrap of food to sate hunger for just a couple more hours. This was the world that John knew a world where every day is a fight, a fight where looking for food and looking for somewhere safe to sleep was a daily occurrence.

It wasn't always like this for him he could remember long ago when he had a family and a home, where safety wasn't a feeling but a fact. He couldn't really remember his father as he had either died when he was young or had left his mother to raise a young boy and baby girl alone. Granted they were never rich but he never went hungry and he knew his mother worked hard to try and make their lives a little bit better. John knew his life was tough but he had no idea how hard it could actually get after his mother passed away. He was barely 13 when she got very sick and died, leaving a scared little boy to look after his 9 year old sister on his own. Having no other family that he knew of they were on their own and had to leave the one room apartment where they lived and were now out on the rough streets of Chicago.

During those first couple of months john and Claire moved around a lot from shelter to shelter while there were schemes for housing and feeding the homeless the resources were always severely limited so some days when people tried to get food they would be left with empty stomachs. When John became the defacto sole guardian for his sister he promised he would always protect her and someway make sure that she would have a better life. To this point he always tried to ensure that she stayed in school, everyday he would wake her up and walk her to the same school that she had attended before their mother died. While Claire never really liked going to school while he didn't he hoped one day she would understand everything he was doing for her. Sending Claire to school served two purposes one it had her in school where she could hopefully get a decent education and possibly have a better chance of a better life. The other benefit was that it had Claire in a safe place off the dangerous streets while he could go and trying to get food and money for the both of them. To that end he had gotten in with a particularly bad crowd, the Tenth Street Reds, a human gang of scum who would kill, intimidate and extort anyone who didn't pay them protection money. While John would normally never associate with the kind of people who made so many unfortunate people's lives even more miserable he didn't have a choice, everyone living in a situation such as the one John and his sister found themselves in would eventually at some stage cross paths with the Reds. For John this meant doing some rather unpleasant things, at first this only involved odd jobs like delivering packages of highly illegal materials from one location to another but this was only while he was still young.

When he was sixteen he was still doing the odd jobs here and there for the Reds and he had finally started to develop in to the man that he would become later in life. Now standing at just under six foot and still growing with each day, he had quite broad shoulders but was still quite skinny which was to be expected for someone who often went without food for the benefit of his sister. John was carrying a backpack that contained a large amount of red sand meant for delivery to a small warehouse behind a number of run down shops. The trip had been fairly uneventful John thought to himself as he rounded the corner on to the small alleyway that would take him to the drop-off. As he slowly made his way down he suddenly got the feeling that he was being followed, glancing over his shoulder he caught the shape of two people slowly making their way down the alley towards him. Not knowing if they were here for him or just a coincidence he kept walking to his destination when his path was blocked by another larger man who walked out of the shadows in front of him.

"What's in the bag kid?" John heard the man in front of him ask with a gravelly voice.

"Nothing just some clothes" John replied. Taking in the man now standing in front of him he was clearly a couple of years older than him but was obviously using a lot of drugs judging by his face alone.

Behind him John could hear the other two getting closer and moving around to block any way out. The one to his right held what looked like a bat in his hand as he eyed the bag on Johns back as if it were gold dust. "I think he's lying I think he's got a present for us" he sneered through yellowing teeth.

John glanced over his shoulder to see that he was now truly surrounded. His heart gradually started to increase its beating rhythm. "I don't want any trouble" John said to the larger of the group still standing in front of him. Looking at the other two quickly he could see that they seemed to be around the same age as himself but seemed to by equally as gaunt and unclean as the first.

"Well see thats the problem right there kid you have something that I want so unless you give it to me, me and my friends here are gonna have some fun smashing your face in" he replied back with a toothless grin.

"I can't give you what isn't mine. I give you this I'm a dead man" John answered getting more and more worried of how twitchy one of his attackers behind him was getting. He was completely unarmed while two of his three assailants appeared to be armed bats. The third was much smaller than john and definitely younger, clearly just a tag along probably brought just to make up the numbers and keep a lookout.

"Ha-ha if you don't give me that bag right know you'll know what a dead man feels like" the large one, who John assumed by now was probably the leader of the group given his size and the fact he was the only one who seemed to be talking, said as his smile slowly turned more sinister as he seemed to be motioning to one of his friends.

John knew his chances of making it out of this without any injury considering he was unarmed was slim if he let them hit him first so throwing all caution to the wind he decided to end this quick starting with the largest of the group. Wrapping himself in the dark energy of the ezo in his blood he was suddenly aglow with a dark blue flame of a biotic field and prepared to charge his attacker.

"Shit he's a biotic" yelled the large attacker just as John crashed into his chest. The large man tried to lift his hands and bat up in front of him to protect himself but couldn't stop the force of the impact that broke his bat in half while sending him flying into a number of trashcans that sat along the side of the alley. Cursing as he hit the wall and ground he looked up to see john turning to deal with the others. As john turned towards the others the smaller of the two seemed to lose his nerve completely and started to make a hasty retreat back the way he came. The final armed attacker seemed to be in two minds about what to do and this was all the time john needed as he turn on him and threw a shockwave straight at him.

John had only used his abilities very rarely since they had started to manifest themselves when he was young. When he had first found out he was a biotic he was terrified of what was happening to him. It also didn't help that he had found out in front of Claire and she wouldn't stop screaming or crying at her brother who seemed to be on fire in front of her. Eventually she calmed down and they tried to find out exactly what john could do. To say that it was a mistake to use untrained biotics for the first time in an enclosed room would be an understatement, luckily the only damage that seemed to be done was to the walls of the shelter that the two happened to be in. Even Claire was laughing at what John had done up to the point until they were asked very kindly the leave the immediate area by a number of their disgruntled neighbours.

Catching his armed attacker straight on with the shockwave sent if crashing into the far wall with a sickening crack that had John worrying for a moment about whether he had actually killed him or not. A moment until he heard a noise behind him to see his first attacker slowly rising to his feet before lunging towards John wielding what remained of his broken bat. Swinging his arm in a wide ark coming down at Johns head, John barely reacted in time but was able to just move his head out of the way but still not enough as the end of the bat still glanced him across his shoulder sending him stumbling backwards. This was the only opening that his attacker needed as he seemed to be on John in seconds swinging wildly with fists and the bat handle in a feral rage. John tried to block as best he could but was still getting hit with some hard shots. He swung wildly to his attackers head and connected with his nose with a crunching snap. Stumbling back and grabbing his nose that had now begun to gush with blood down his face, John's attacker was momentarily stunned and unable to clearly see as his eyes also started to water giving John a chance to reach down and retrieve the broken bat handle that had just been dropped and then swinging up with all the force he had left in him and cracked it off his attackers head causing him to fall back. Seeing this as his chance to end this something in John took over and he kept swinging at his fallen attacker until he was brought back to reality as a gunshot rang out over his head.

After hearing the commotion from up the street a number of Reds members left the warehouse and looked up the street to see what was causing all the noise thinking it was possibly a rival gang coming to start trouble. Instead all they saw was a tall skinny 16 year old boy beating a poor unfortunate sod that appeared to be bleeding profusely from his head. Firing a shot into the air seemed to do the trick as the boy looked up dropping the handle of a bat raising his hands above his head.

"What the hell you doing kid?" demanded the one now pointing the gun squarely at Johns chest.

Now looking down the barrel of a gun for the first time in his life John felt real terror for the first time and it left him completely frozen stiff unable to answer with his mouth hanging open.

"Well answer me you little shit" barked the red with the gun.

Suddenly John found the words as he replied hoping that tonight wouldn't be his last. "They tried to mug me and take my bag but I have to deliver it to the warehouse just over there." John babbled hoping that his answer was sufficient enough not to warrant another bullet being shot at him.

"Ah so you're the delivery boy." came a much older voice from behind the Reds that stood in front of him. Now walking through the line of Reds a man presumably in his late thirties walked past the other Reds and stepped towards John raising a hand and gesturing for the bag. "Well give it here boy then." he said.

Taking the bag from his back and handing it to him the man opened the bag and gestured to his associates to the bodies behind John. "Check on our friends Sen."

"Yes sir." Was the only reply John heard as one of the Reds walked over to each body and started checking them.

"Well this is very nice indeed. Yes very nice." The man said as he checked the contents of the bag. "What is your name boy?" he asked.

"Eh, John." "John Shepard." John replied.

"Nah boss we aint gonna find out anything from these two. Delivery boy here done a real number on em. I reckon they are just a bunch of junkies looking for a score from the smell of them." Sen said waving a hand in front of his nose as he walked back over to the other Reds.

"Oh well it does not matter we have the merchandise." replied the boss. "Get this out on the street right away." Handing the bag to Sen who then started to walk back to the warehouse with the other Reds. Turning back to John he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusted silver coin with a number of strange symbols on it and handed it to John. "Not bad boy, not bad at all. I need people like you around me people who can get the job done. You work for me now and of course there are benefits to my employment take this to the store down by the old storage shelter and give it to the owner and he'll give you as much food as you need. You look like you could do with a good feed."

Looking down at the coin in his hand and then back up to the man. "Thank you sir." was all that John could say.

"Please call me Mr. Smith. Come back tomorrow and I may have work for you." He said and turned to walk back into the warehouse. John stood in the alleyway not moving as what had just happened washed over him as he took in his surroundings. There he stood in the alley way with two people he had just killed lying no less than 10 feet from him on the ground. Suddenly he felt sick rising from his stomach and was then bent over puking what was in his already empty stomach on to the ground by his feet.

When he finally stopped he wanted to be anywhere but here so he started running and didn't stop until his lungs burned and he could barely stand. Now leaning up against a street corner breathing heavily trying to catch his breath he checked the time and saw that he had to go collect Claire from school but first checked his reflection in a shop window as he passed. He was a mess, parts of his face were swollen and bloodied while some of his clothes were covered with blood that was from him and his recently deceased attackers. Taking off his coat and using it to wipe the blood from his face and trying to make himself look slightly presentable, he then tossed his filthy coat into a trashcan and started towards the school.

A 12 year old Claire Shepard sat waiting just outside her school waiting for her brother to come pick her up. Sitting on a ledge looking down the road that she knew John would have to walk up if he had come from where they were staying but he still was nowhere to be seen." Hey you ready to go home?" John's voice called from the opposite direction and startled her so she jumped off the ledge wiping her head around to see him. Once she turned she could instantly see that his face was in a right state, he had a cut in his eyebrow which was also quite swollen and his bottom lip was split. All in all he looked like shit and he knew it but he just smiled at Claire as she looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"What happened?" she asked now a little bit worried.

"It's okay I just got into a little fight nothing to worry about." He said with a forced smile to her hoping that she would accept it and leave it at that. To John she didn't need to know what he had done and hopefully never would. "Are you hungry?" he asked hoping to change the subject.

"Yeah ok." She said smiling a little.

"Ok come on I know a friend who has a store where we can get all the food we want." He said taking her bag and turning to lead the way.

The two Shepards then started walking down the street with the much smaller of the two telling, her best friend, the larger of all the amazing things she had learned about at school. To John he smiled knowing that she was safe and would be now getting something to eat. He didn't care what he'd have to do but so long as she was taken care of that was all that mattered to him. He was never a truly a religious person and never worried about damning his soul with all the evil he would do but the end justified the means and he would sacrifice himself to protect the one person that truly mattered to him.


	2. Prologue 2

**So heres chapter 2. :)**

**Thanks to metaladdict and batprime for the reviews.**

**Note Chapters may take longer to come out than I expected due to me starting a new job so I wont know how much free time I'll have until my schedule is sorted.**

**As always I own nothing except for Caire cause she's my baby :P**

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John stood in the middle of the street glowing in a biotic flame, all around him lay broken and bloodied bodies. Breathing heavily and tired for no reason he scanned around to see the faces of two of the bodies, they were the junkies who had attacked him during his delivery run. There they were again lying in front of him, 'No' he thought 'It wasn't my fault, they attacked me'. He had dealt with this, why were they here he wondered to himself.

"What did you do John?" a familiar voice called to him.

He looked up to see Claire looking at him with a look that held both disgust and fear. Now looking down at his clothes could see that he was covered in blood and still glowing. "I don't know." He answered still unsure. He went to step toward her but she jumped back.

"Don't touch me. Stay away from me, you're not my brother you're a monster!" she screamed.

"No Claire please, I didn't mean it." John pleaded.

"No stay away from me!" shouted Claire. Claire turned and started running away from John. He tried to follow but couldn't keep up with her as she got further and further away. Seeing his sister run from him John screamed as loud as he could. "Claire please!"

"Claire" John shouted as he jumped up in his bed. Covered in sweat and breathing heavily it took a couple of moments for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He looked across the room to see Claire's form still lying sound asleep in her bed thankfully not awake due to his outburst. It had been over a year since he had been jumped in the alley while delivering the package full of red sand to a Reds warehouse. He knew that he had no choice that he either had to defend himself or else he would be as dead as they were and that would mean Claire would have no one to look after her and he would not allow that. It was his responsibility to look after her and he would always make sure she was safe.

He sat up over the side of his bed resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing the back of his neck. "Fuck me!" he exhaled trying to relax a little and calm himself down.

"John you ok?" Claire asked sleepily as she rolled over in her bed on the other side of the room.

"Yeah I'm fine go back to sleep. I'm just gonna go get a bit of fresh air." He said quietly to her.

"You sure?" she asked. She had known something was wrong with him but knew he wouldn't talk about it. Everything seemed to be different since they had moved into this new apartment. While it wasn't big by any means with only one bedroom and bathroom it was still in better condition than most of the places that they had lived in the past. While she knew that they would never live somewhere nice considering she was still in school and John wasn't working all the time this was still probably the best home they had had in a long time. She had asked John a couple of times where he got the money for them but he just said that he was doing odd jobs for some people that would pay him so it didn't matter. She worried about him though sometimes he would come home covered in bruises and cuts but not tell her anything that had happened.

"Yeah I'm fine." He smiled to her and got up grabbing his clothes and heading for door. He walked out the door closing it behind him and walked to the end of the walkway where he could look down on to the streets below but was also still close to the room so he could keep an eye on it. He stood by the rail and closed his eyes and took in a deep breath hoping to still his restless mind. Over a year since that incident in the alley and a now seventeen year old John Shepard had filled out nicely thanks to all the extra food that they were now able to afford. He was now standing at his full 6'2 which would give him the intimidating stature that later in live would but fear into his enemies and inspire his men.

It was a month or so after he had met one of the Reds Bosses, Mr. Smith, and John had been set to work with one of his top enforcers. It wasn't very pleasant work but he had little choice in the matter as he had seen what happened to people who tried to fight they were either taken care of permanently which he had thankfully only witnessed the odd time or John along with a few others would pay them a little visit.

While John didn't enjoy what he was doing he had to admit that he could become a force of absolute destruction if he needed to. There had been a few changes for the better since John had started working for Mr. Smith. One the fact that he and Claire now made enough money for his exploits that they managed to stay in a better apartment. While still very small and in a very shady part of town but it was much better than what they had had over the past number of years and with this extra money they didn't have to worry about food either much to John's aching stomachs agreement.

John stood by the rail for twenty minutes deep in thought. Thoughts swimming around in his mind but the most dominant of them all kept telling him that he had to stop doing this kind of work or he would lose himself in it. But what could he do he needed the money and without it he and Claire had no chance of survival. Resigning himself to his faith he left the rail and went back to his room to try get some sleep before he had to take Claire to school in the morning.

Later that day after Claire had been dropped to school John made his way towards the warehouse that was the office of Mr. Smith. Walking in the front he saw a small group of Reds who were probably new recruits judging by their age and the fact that they seemed to be enjoying quite a bit of red sand which was probably provided free of charge as a 'gift' to them from the Reds but once they were hooked they would be owned by the Reds. John sighed a breath of relief to the fact that he had never tried it as he had seen what it would do to a person.

As John walked through the warehouse he was spotted by Mr. Smith who motioned for him to join him as he spoke to another Red.

"About time you got here boy. You've got a busy day." Mr. Smith said as John reached them. "This is Mickey he'll show ya what needs to be done, don't let me down." And then Mr. Smith turned and left the two men standing alone.

Mickey was a grizzled 23 year old Red who had been working for them since he was a 9 year old orphan left wandering the streets. He only did jobs that needed people beaten to a pulp or killed outright. John could feel that today was going to be a bad day just by standing beside this man who could only be described as a monster who took joy in inflicting pain and suffering on people.

"Right kid lets go have some fun." He said with a sinister smile as he led the way out of the warehouse and up the street.

"What are we doing?" John asked when they had turned on to another smaller street.

"Your following me and doing what I tell you, thats what." spat Mickey as he turned down yet another street and started to walk toward a small shop located on the corner.

Walking in the door of the shop its owner looked up to see Mickey walk in with a tall younger man behind him. Seeing Mickey in his shop he knew what was about to happen and his eyes went wide with fear as his heart began to beat faster in his chest.

Everyone who ran a shop in this part of town knew what Mickey meant when he walked in your store, he was here to collect and if he didn't then things could get ugly very quickly.

"Hello Mickey what can I do for you today?" Frank the store owner choked out through trembling lips.

"You know why I'm here Frank, you owe Smith this month's rent and he's not happy that he had to send me to collect." said Mickey as he eyed the various items sitting on the shelves in the store. Reaching down pick up a pack of sweets and proceeded to eat from the bag. "I hope you've got the credits and something for me since I took the trouble of coming all the way down here to collect." Mickey added as he dropped the wrapper on to the floor.

"I only have half right now but I'll pay him when I get the rest, please I just need more time." pleaded Frank as his eyes started to water as the gravity of his current predicament dawned on him.

"Half" screamed Mickey "Only Half!" he reached over the counter grabbing Frank by the scruff of his collar and tossing him across the room into a line of shelves. John just stood back and watched as Mickey began to beat poor Frank where he lay desperately trying to protect himself.

After beating Frank for a few moments Mickey stood back to admire his handy work. Walking back over to the counter and picking up Frank's credit chit he then reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol. "Here finish the job" he said handing the pistol to John. Looking down at the pistol now resting in his hand that looked even older than him.

"What?" John asked looking from the pistol to Frank who continued to whimper while lying against the wall and then back to Mickey who was starting to get angry again.

"I said finish him. And hurry up I'm sick of this place" replied Mickey.

"No I can't" John said now quite worried about what he had just gotten involved with. "You can't just kill him he didn't do anything"

"If Smith wants him dead kid then he's dead" replied Mickey getting quite irritated at John's refusal. Walking over to John he grabbed the gun from his hand and slapped him with the back of the other. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson too punk"

John was sent reeling from the strike but soon recovered and threw his fist out sending a shockwave at Mickey. Caught unawares by John's sudden biotic attack Mickey was thrown into a stack of shelves still standing, dropping the pistol and credit chit in his hands as his back hit metal. Returning back to his feet and lunging at John he swung a wild kick that caught John in his side driving the air from his lungs. "You're gonna regret that you little shit" bellowed Mickey as he followed up the kick with a series of punches aim at John.

Frank sat bewildered to the scene that was now unfolding in his ruined store. Both John and Mickey where now openly trading blows with one another with his store easily taking the brunt of the damage, most of which came from Johns initial shockwave. Seizing an opening in Johns defence Mickey spear tackled him into the wall beside Frank causing the terrified shopkeeper to roll out of the way. Grabbing John again before he could react Mickey threw him across the store into the shelves that John had thrown him into earlier. As John landed on the shelves something hard hit the back of his head dazing him slightly, causing his vision to go blurry.

Reaching down and picking up a part of one of the shelves that that broken off during the melee, Mickey gripped the piece of steel in his hand and turned towards John who seemed to be recovering from the blow to the head. "Now you'll get it you little fuck" he spat as he swung the bar to the side to bring it down viciously on John.

Realising that he only had seconds to react John reached out for anything near his hands to defend himself. With his right hand he hit the grip of the discarded pistol and grabbed it. What followed was a blur to Frank that ended with a loud bang of a discharging pistol and then everything grew deathly silent and still. Frank looked over to see John with the pistol in his hand pointed at Mickey's chest while Mickey simply stood there with his back to Frank barely moving. A deep red stain began to form on the back Mickey's coat around a small hole that was not there previously. Mickey seemed to stumble a little and then collapsed to his right with a crash and deep exhale as he died. And then he stayed very still so still in fact that John had thought he had turned to stone.

Realising what he had done John looked at the gun in his hand and dropped it before jumping up with a fright. "What did you do?" came the scared voice of Frank huddling against the wall.

Swiping Frank's credit chit off the floor he sprinted out of the store in to the street and kept going as thoughts bombarded him. 'I can just give Smith the money and explain it all as a misunderstanding' John thought as he ran through the streets. 'But what about Frank he'll tell them what happened, that I refused' he would have to run there was no other way.

'Grab Claire and run, hide' that was all he could think of at the moment and so he ran as fast as he could to get her from school, hoping she would ask too many questions about why they had to move again but this time much further away somewhere they couldn't be found. 'Hopefully Frank has enough money on his chit to cover any travel costs' John thought as he rounded the corner to Claire's school.

Thankfully they were at lunch when he reached the school as he didn't want to have to cause a scene by dragging Claire from her class. Instead he found her chatting to a bunch of girls in one of the hallways beside her class. "John what are you doing here?" she asked as he bolted up the corridor toward her.

"Get your stuff we have to go!" was all that John replied.

"Why?" Claire asked.

"Claire now!" John yelled maybe a little too aggressively but he had little choice by now word of what had happened would have spread and they needed to get moving. This seemed to work as Claire went to get her belongings from her class and when she returned John grabbed her hand and started charging out of the school.

As they started to head down the street Claire spoke up. "John what's wrong, where are we going?"

John wondered what to say to her, tell her he had made a terrible mistake that had now put both of their lives at risk or lie to her and make something up and hope it didn't come back to bite him in the ass. "I got into a fight with some very dangerous people and now we have to go somewhere else" he answered deciding to tell a half truth rather than make something up.

"What are we going to do?" asked Claire who now started to show real worry her pretty face.

Seeing this John stopped walking and knelt down on one knee in front of her while he brushed a lock of light auburn hair out of her face that had fallen out of place with all the rushing around they had been doing. "Hey don't worry it'll be fine, well be ok well go somewhere new and everything will be ok" he whispered to her as he pulled her in for a tight hug.

"I'll always take care of you, you know that right" he added while looking into her face. She nodded and gave a weak smile to him as tears began to form in her eyes. Wiping the tears from her cheek with his thumb he smiled. "Come on we need to get to the transit hub on the other side of town before it gets dark" taking her hand in his while continuing to lead the way through the streets.

Several hours later after reaching the transit station John and Claire quickly walked in to the station. The station was situated in a very well built up area that was completely different from the place that the two Shepards had just come from. Clean streets all around with no poor unfortunates scavenging through trash cans looking for something to eat just to survive. It felt strange to John as if everything was just a facade and any minute he would see something that reminded him of where he had come from. Leaving the street for the relative safety of the station they walked in through the main doors and John quickly began scanning the departures board for any possible safe haven. Most were for places that were to close that he couldn't trust whether they would be safe or not. Then his eyes were drawn to another destination, Buenos Aries, leaving in three hours time. 'Perfect' he thought to himself. 'If only it were a little sooner now we have to wait with Smith's goons still looking for us.'

"Ok here's what we are going to do. I want you to take this chit and go buy yourself something to eat and then go sit over there by that big group of people. Don't talk to anyone but me ok, read one of your school books cause we'll be waiting a while ok?" John said while motioning over to a group of seats.

"You're leaving me? Where are you going?" Claire asked a little worried to be left on her own.

"No of course I'm not ill just be outside making sure no one is following us" he said with a smile hoping to reassure her.

Giving her hand a soft squeeze and a gentle push in the direction of the chairs she started to walk over and took a seat near the wall. Seeing that she was sitting down john made his way outside and out of sight and waited for when he knew that Smith and his crew would eventually turn up. He had decided that the best he could do was to hopefully get their attention and have them follow him and then try double back to the transit station after he had lost them.

He had been waiting in the shadows across the street from the transit station and it was now starting to get dark. He really wanted to go in and check up on Claire up he couldn't risk putting her in anymore danger than she already was. Hoping that Smith wouldn't bother with him and just forget all about him but then just as he expected walking up the street came Smith surrounded by seven other Reds. ' Well time to go' he thought to himself as John reached down to the ground to pick up a rock that he had been fidgeting with earlier and hurling it as hard as he could at the group. The rock sailed through the air and connected solidly with the temple of one unlucky Red.

"There he is" shouted another as John turned tail and began sprinting in the opposite direction. He hadn't planned where he was going to go just run then hopefully lose them and try make it back in time before they caught him. And so he kept running down this street and that hoping to lose his pursuers but as he ran down another street he came to an abrupt halt as two of the Reds where waiting for him. Deciding that he had to retrace his route he turned only to be cut off by Smith and the rest of the Reds.

"You've got a lot to answer for boy." spat Smith as he came to a stop in front of John.

John expected to be lectured on the finer points of gang loyalty and the reasons why not to turn away from the Reds but obviously Smith and the Reds had other ideas as he was instantly rushed by the two from behind. Catching John by surprise they instantly had him up against the wall beside him raining fists down on his head and body. Thankfully being bigger than the two John was able to muscle one off of him and quickly turn his attention to the other. Throwing a left and right that connected beautifully with the Reds jaw sending him crumpling to the floor.

"Don't just stand there get him" screamed Smith to the other Reds who quickly converged on John. Hoping to take out a couple together John threw a shockwave at two standing close together. One was quick enough to see it coming at rolled to his side but the other wasn't as lucky and was thrown further up the street past Smith. Now being swarmed by the remaining Reds and one who had recovered John tried his best to defend himself by covering himself up and swinging only when he was sure of a hit but it was getting pretty desperate to say the least. Hoping for a turn in fortune he tried to throw all his energy into a shockwave to at least give himself a bit of breathing room but the exhaustion and his injuries were starting to take their toll.

Suddenly he was knocked off his feet as something hard and heavy hit him from behind, then his world went fuzzy as the same object connected with the side of his head. When the ringing in his head had died down a little and his vision had cleared he looked up to see the Reds standing back as Smith walked toward him. With a smirk on his face Smith stopped just a few feet from John and lifted his hand aiming a pistol straight at Johns face.

"Now you see boys, nobody leaves the Reds" smiled Smith as he glanced at the other Reds around John.

Returning to look at John he glared at him. 'This is it' John thought. He closed his eyes as they started to water as he felt he had let Claire down. Someone yelled something that John could make out and the next thing he heard was a gun discharging.

* * *

**Till next time bye-bye **


	3. Prologue 3

**A/N**

**Once again thanks to all for reading and following. Sorry for the wait but I got distracted by another story I'm currently working on (not ME) and forgot to upload the next chapter :).**

**This was originally part of a much longer chapter but I decided to break it up after getting some advice from a friend. So now its not as long and to be honest it made sense to split it up but me being an idiot I didn't really notice.**

**Also I have a question for people who are reading as to whether they want me to go into detail on the missions or just do some more akin to a highlight reel. So far I have the bare bones of chapters up to the completion of two main missions and the inbetweens with some of the missions being fairly fleshed out but I want to know if people want that or if they even care. Either way let me know. **

**Anywho enough waffle enjoy the next chapter and R&R. Next chapter should be out by the end of Feb. but could change due to my birthday :P no promises.**

**As always Bioware owns everything except Claire.**

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John lay on the ground still leaning against the wall at his back. He could feel it hard and cold against his back. He could also still feel the throbbing pain from his injuries and the warm dampness from the blood still flowed from open cuts across his face and arms.

'_Strange_' he thought to himself '_I thought you weren't supposed to feel pain after you die_'. While John had never had a strong belief he had always been told that after you die all your pain goes away and yet here he was most definitely in pain unless he wasn't dead. Deciding to open his eyes he glanced around and took in his surroundings, to his left could see the Reds that were still standing high tailing it back down the street away from him and there lying less than eight feet in front of him lay Smith on his back with a pool of blood gathering around his head from a single bullet hole above his left eye.

Releasing a breath that he didn't actually realise he was holding john then turned towards the sound of approaching footsteps. Looking up he could see a dark skinned man dressed in what appeared to be an alliance issue uniform, not formal dress blues but not simple fatigues either. The man walked slowly towards him but carried himself with a confidence that could only have been achieved from years of active military service his pistol still in his hand and raised slightly ready to be used at any sign of trouble. Walking first over to Smith and kicking his pistol from his away from his hand he then turned to look down at John. "You alright son?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine" winced John as he slowly made his way to his feet.

The man offered a hand to help but he was waved away by John's own as he got up. "Well you don't look fine, those boys sure seemed to wanna hurt you a bunch." Replied the man "Who's your friend here anyways?"

Now standing up john reached up to the back of his head with his hand only for it to be covered in blood when he looked at it. "He's not my friend" John said through clenched teeth "He was one of the bosses for the Reds"

"What's your name kid?" the man asked.

"Shepard" was all that John replied.

"Commander David Anderson, Systems Alliance" said the man as he offered his hand toward John.

John tentatively reached out and shook Anderson's hand. "John" was all he said while shaking.

"Well John Shepard nice to meet you. Now what did you go and do to get these fine upstanding citizens mad at you" Anderson said with a smile.

"They're Reds they don't really need much of a reason. If you don't do what they tell you then they kill you"

"Ah I see. Your parents live around here or something?"

"I don't think that's any of your business to be honest with you" John said getting quite annoyed with all the questions.

"It is ok relax son, I just wanna make sure that your not gonna fall down again and you get that head of yours looked at. That's a nasty bang you must have taken" Anderson replied while raising his hands and taking a step back to give John his own space. "Tell you what why don't you come with me there is an alliance hospital just two blocks that way. Why don't you come with me so they can fix you up, I know one of the nurses there and she owes me a favour, and then you can go on your way ok?"

John thought about it for a second and then suddenly remembered that he had left Claire on her own. "I can't I have get back to my sister" said John.

"Sister?" replied Anderson "Where is she?"

"She's back at the transit hub I told her to wait for me inside. I knew they were coming for us so I planned on leading them away from her then doubling back after I'd lost them" said John who was now starting to really worry about whether Claire was ok or not.

"Ok then lets head back and get her to come with us then" Anderson said turning to lead the way.

"No I'm fine, we don't need any help" John said as he walked past Anderson.

"Look son I'm not trying to force you into anything here but you don't know if those guys are gonna come back for you or not and the state you're in you won't be doing you or your sister any favours if you run into them again" Anderson said as he reached out to stop John from walking ahead.

"Why, why would you help me? You don't know me for all you know these guys had every right to kill me. Everything I told you could have been a lie so why would you help me?" John said turning to face Anderson.

"I'm helping you because that's my job. I'm a Systems Alliance marine and it's my job to protect people who can't protect themselves. Granted most of the time I do that by fighting of threats on other planets but the point remains I stop bad people from doing bad things to other people" said Anderson as he seemed to stand a little straighter in front of John. "As for whether you were lying or not well sometimes you just have to have a little faith in other people you know what I mean John"

John stood and thought about what Anderson had said to him before he responded. "Fine we'll do it your way but once were done me and my sister walk the other way. If I don't feel safe or that something isn't right we walk"

"Sure that's fine son" Anderson nodded as he started to follow John to the transit station.

The walk to the transit station was completed in silence as Anderson followed John along the streets. It was just starting to get dark with the lights that lined the streets beginning to flicker into live as the two of them neared the transit station. Walking in through the front doors John seemed to get a few odd looks a couple of security guards posted near the ticket machines but they lost interest once they saw him with Anderson. John spotted Claire from where she was sitting and walked over towards her.

Claire was already starting to worry before she even set eyes on John as he was gone a lot longer than she had expected him to be but she had done what he had told her and waited for him to come back. Looking over towards the door again for what seemed like the hundredth time today she spotted John and a man she didn't recognise walking over toward her. As John got closer to her she could finally see the cuts and bruises on his face. Jumping up out of her seat and running over to him she wrapped her arms around his waist hugging him tightly. "Where were you John? I was so scared something had happened to you" Claire cried into his chest.

"It's ok Claire, everything is going to be alright" he said as he hugged her back.

Claire looked up from his chest into his face taking in all the damage done to him."Oh God your face" she said as she reached up a hand.

"Don't worry about that, I'm fine now" John replied taking her hand in his. "Come on get your stuff we need to go"

Claire turned grabbing her bag off of the seat next to her and then went over to John who was talking to Anderson. "Who is that John?" asked Claire as she stood beside John.

"This is a friend, he's a soldier in the Alliance and he's gonna help us for a little bit ok" John answered.

Anderson turned and bent down to shake Claire's hand "Hi my names David what's yours?"

Claire took his hand in hers and shook it firmly. "Claire Shepard" she replied.

"It's very nice to meet you Claire" Anderson said with a smile. Claire smiled back at him as John started to lead the way out of the transit hub. Once outside again John turned to Anderson again. "How far to this hospital?" he asked.

"It's not that far this way" said Anderson as he started walking down the street.

As Claire and John started to follow Anderson down the street, Claire took in David's appearance, with the way he held himself and the uniform he wore he exuded confidence even as he walked beside Johns imposing height and size there was an aura of determination in everything he did. While most of the people Clare knew where a few people at school, who she now wondered if she would ever see again, and John she never really met many older people as she had been quite sheltered and hidden away from them by John. Now she had met someone new and she couldn't quite say why but he seemed like a genuinely nice person who was actually just trying to help the two of them.

The rest of the short walk to the hospital passed quietly as John and Claire followed Anderson. When they eventually walked in through the front door John was really starting to feel the extent of his injuries. While most of his injuries were quite superficial just some cuts and bruises but the thing that had him most worried was the now constant throbbing in his head that was quite painful at the moment.

Walking up to the receptionist with Anderson who spoke first. "Excuse me Miss could you let Corporal Downes know that I need to speak with him please" asked Anderson.

"Yes of course, one moment please Commander" replied the receptionist who picked up a phone beside her and started typing away at her console.

"Downes will get you all cleaned up kid" Anderson said as he turned to John.

"How much is this all gonna cost?" John asked. So far in life he had known that nothing in life was free where he was from.

"I told you its free don't worry about it kid. Ah here's the good doctor now" Anderson said as he turned around as a man approached the group. Corporal Charles Downes was average size man, not ugly but not handsome either just plain was Claire's opinion of the man as he walked towards them. The only distinguishing feature appeared to be a series of scars that covered a good portion of the left side of his face.

"Anderson what the hell is your sorry old ass doing here. I thought you'd be off wiping out some pirate stronghold or saving some silly colony from annihilation" Downes yelled as he greeted his friend pulling him in for a hug.

"Good to see you Charlie, long time" replied Anderson as he returned the gesture, breaking it to shake his hand and motion over toward John and Claire. "I need you to do me a favour and take a look at my friend here and patch him, he got in a little trouble with a bad crowd and they roughed him up a bit"

"Yeah I can see that" he said now looking at John. "There is an exam room just down the hall why don't we go there"

"Great I'll be there in a couple of minutes I've got to put a call in to one of the local security stations to report what happened and I also better give Kahlee a call letting her know I'll be late too" Anderson said as he waved for John and Claire to follow Downes.

The two Shepards followed Downes down a corridor an into a small exam room that contained a bed and a couple of steel framed chairs. "Ok hop up on the bed and we'll have a look at you" said Downes as he pulled one of the chairs over to the beside the bed and motioned for Claire to take a seat as well.

John hopped up on to the bed and Downes turned to face him and immediately began to examine his injuries. The time passed quietly as Downes checked a number of cuts on Johns face and a large laceration on the back of his head. After a few minutes a young nurse knocked on the door then walked in. "Emma this cut at the back of his head is going to need some medi-gel and a bandage and he is also going to need some wipes to clean up some of the smaller ones on his hands and face. Can you get me everything please" Downes asked her as she approached. "Yes of course doctor". Emma replied as she moved to a number of shelves along one of the walls and began getting the medical supplies for Downes.

As she returned to the bed with everything there was another knock at the door and Anderson stuck his head in. "How we doing?" asked Anderson as he walked fully into the room closing the door behind him. "It's not as bad as it looks, the cut to the back of his head was pretty nasty but it wasn't that deep so no major concerns the rest are pretty superficial. Kids made of some pretty tough stuff" Downes answered while John just smirked.

"That's good to hear" Anderson said with a smile as he walked into the room and took a seat beside Claire. "Well you'll be happy to know that I had a chat with the local security and everything has been cleared up so you don't need to worry about that.

"Thanks " was all that John replied as he felt the cooling numbness coming from the back of his head as the medi-gel on the back of his head started to do its work.

"You might have a slight concussion kid so I'm gonna give you some painkillers and I want you to take it easy for a couple of days. Absolutely no over exerting yourself whatsoever and plenty of bed rest." Downes said as he finished up attending to John. "Emma will give you the painkillers before you leave." Downes got to his feet and walked over to Anderson and shook his hand before saying his farewell and walking out of the room.

"Kahlee and I have a spare room if you are looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights." Anderson said as he moved over to where John was on the bed.

"We're fine we can find somewhere else." John replied "I told you I was just going to get cleaned up then we'd be on our way."

"I know you did but I'm just offering, we don't mind the company besides I was only saying it because you'll be fairly pushed to find a place that's open this late and Claire doesn't really look like she is up for much of a trek around late at night." Anderson said as he motioned over toward Claire who was in fact asleep in the chair that she had sat in earlier on.

Looking over at Claire John couldn't help but smile as she sat there dead to the world, hair fallen across her face hiding much of it to anyone looking at her, mouth open with a small bit of drool running down her chin.

'_Damn he's right I can't exactly drag her around when she is already exhausted, what if we don't find somewhere to stay for the night and end up roughing it_' John thought to himself. He didn't want to be the reason for making Claire sleep in the street when a warm bed was being offered free of charge.

"Fine we'll stay but only a night or two. Until I can figure out what we are going to do next" John said with trepidation.

"Relax son you're not a prisoner, I'm only offering you a place to stay for your sisters sake" replied Anderson.

Now feeling a little bit guilty for giving him such a hard time John turned and went to wake up Claire from her slumber. Bending down in front of her he gently shook her shoulder her to wake her only for her to slowly open her eyes and mumble something incomprehensible causing a smile to come to his face.

"Come on Claire time to go" John said.

"Huh, where we going?" she replied slowly rubbing her eyes as she slowly remembered where she was.

"David has offered to put us up for a day or two so you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah lets go" Claire replied with a smile while grabbing her things off the floor.


	4. Prologue 4

****Sorry for reupload had to fix first upload which just went as a wall of text****

**Firstly I have to apologise for the time till this update. I'm so sorry but real life really caught up with me and this new job is really sucking the life out of me so im struggling to do the things I enjoy i.e. writing this story :). and so I present the final part of our opening chapter into Mass Effect with my biggest chapter yet a 7500+ words to make up for the long wait.**

**Any ways enough fishing for pity I really want to thank everyone who has followed and fav'ed this story so far and actually sticking with it through the prologue that went a lot longer than I had originally planned. Also thank you especially to the people who have given the time to review so far. This time I've learnt my lesson about predicting the next update so I'm just gonna say it'll be out when its out :p. Giving everyone a heads up this is where the story starts to alter canon a little but nothing major which I'll explain in my post comments.**

**Follow and Favourite if you want. And if you want feel free to review all feedback is welcome.**

**All rights belong to Bioware.**

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The rain on the window continued to fall as John stood peering out into the world below. He couldn't help but think back to how much his life had changed over the past 10 years, not just his but Claire's as well. A chance encounter that more than likely saved their lives. After that day when they were given shelter for the night by Anderson their lives had changed and for the better.

John was never a man who believed in destiny as he always felt that a person chose how they wished to life there life and it was always possible to change your life for the better. He had seen too much of the cruelty of man to his brothers to believe that people didn't choose to do bad things. Even with believing all of this he still wondered whether it was fate that meant he would meet David Anderson that day when he saved Johns life. His life had changed so much in only a couple of years and it was all due to the influence of Anderson. Looking back at the last few years it all seemed to happen in a blur, from moments of great hardship but also times of great joy and happiness.

When they came to Anderson's home they met Kahlee and she and Claire seemed to instantly hit it off. While they stayed there John and Claire had to decide what they would do with their future. They did not have much save for a few belongings and the credit chit that John had picked up after killing Mickey. After checking its contents it was discovered that there was quite a substantial amount of credits on it and it was decided that it would be used to pay to send Claire to the best school that they could. He knew it was better to spend it on her as he had never been one for school. While this didn't sit well with Claire at first they really had no idea what to do with all of the credits they had, John had no need for them and he felt that it would be best to use them for Claire's benefit.

The best school just so happened to be an alliance run boarding school which would mean Claire would be away for a very long time leaving John at a loose end.

Since he wouldn't need to look after her all the time now he had no idea what to do with himself until Anderson suggested that he join the Alliance and become a marine. At first John was completely against the idea as it wasn't something that he believed in. All that changed with talking to Anderson, at first John was wary of the man who turned out to be their saviour. John had no idea why he would help them but soon he saw it as his nature that as a marine it was his duty to help those who couldn't help themselves.

It was this reason that John felt he had to join. He was one of those people who had been affected by the selflessness of a marine a person in need and he felt it was now his chance to return the favour in any way he could.

Since John would be away on duty and unable to get away and look after Claire if she needed it they had decided that Claire would stay with Kahlee when she got holidays from school as both had developed a close relationship and she had nowhere else to go. But here in lay a problem since John was her only guardian as they had no family that they knew of so in case there was an emergency that John wasn't able to respond to due to being out of contact for whatever reason it was decided that both Anderson and Kahlee would apply to become her guardians. To this effect Claire changed her second name to Anderson and for all intends and purposes was regarded as David's adopted daughter.

While John had very little education and zero training in any skills that could help him get a job in any other profession he really had no other alternative but to sign up. So at the time an opportunity to join the alliance was quite an attractive one. That being said he was no fool he knew it was a difficult job, one where death was a constant threat.

And so a few months before his 18th birthday he signed up. He passed the tests with flying colours after some tutelage from Anderson and the recruiters seemed very interested in him for his biotic potential. Eventually he shipped out a couple of weeks before Claire had to start school so he could at least spend some time with her before they both had to split up which mostly involved the two of them fighting over why each had to leave then laughing at each other followed by the inevitable sobs from Claire.

Soon enough though John had left and was finishing up basic training. To say he enjoyed basic would be the exaggeration of the century. To him it was hell mostly for the fact that it was during basic that he was finally being trained to use his biotic abilities properly without the fear of charging off a ledge or accidently sending a shockwave into a group of his own squad mates instead of the dummies while taking part in a live fire drill which only ever happened once.

But the main goal of the training was to help him develop his stamina as most of his instructors were quite impressed with both the strength and power of his charges and shockwaves but he required more work on his barriers or warps and it was only in the last few weeks of basic that he realised that he could pull of a rather nasty nova.

And so after graduating from basic he started quickly moved up the ranks due to his hard work and dedication and the occasional good word in someone's ear from Anderson. Different squad mates and the occasional female companion came and went as he was transferred from posting to posting, while John didn't mind as he always seemed to get on well with any of the new squad mates that he had and he really wasn't looking for a long term relationship as meaningless and carefree sex seemed to offer him all the comfort that he required at this period in his life.

Eventually he reached the rank of lieutenant and was given his own unit. It was one of the proudest moments in John's life but soon he would also face one of the toughest periods of his life and a planet he would forever hope to forget.

Akuze.

A lot of what happened had been suppressed so deeply that most of what he could consciously remember was a blur of screaming, blood and thresher maws. Some nights he would wake up in the middle of the night sweating and gasping for breath after reliving what happened again, seeing the faces of the men and women he had led into combat that would never return home. It was the single most terrifying moment of his life.

After he was debriefed and given a pysch evaluation he was deemed to be suffering from PTSD which was to be expected for someone who just went through an experience like that and was therefore given time off to recover until he could pass a psych eval that would clear him for duty.

A couple of days after he was released and placed on medical leave Anderson called in a couple of favours to have John moved to back to Earth for treatment as Claire was on holidays and he knew that seeing her would help him recover. So the plan was to have John come home and spend a week or two before he would have to go back to an alliance barracks, if he was able.

The night John came home Claire didn't see him; he simply went up to one of the spare rooms and stayed in bed till the next day. This was supposed to be a happy time for her as she had just got her exam results from her final exams and she had been accepted into an Alliance engineering program that she had applied for. She knew that John would be happy and proud of her for everything she had achieved but it was now dampened by his fragile state of mind.

At first she wanted to just run up and see him but was advised against it by Anderson who had said to give him some time and space, which he would come down when he was ready. The next day when she saw him for the first time her heart broke to see him as he was. He looked so distant when he stepped down the stairs and Claire couldn't control herself anymore as she just ran straight up to him and grabbed him in a vice grip of a hug.

"John god, I was so worried." She exclaimed as tears started to well up in her eyes.

At first John barely reacted but after he realised who it was he hugged her back with equal vigour. It had been so long since he had seen Claire in person, obviously they had stayed in touch through mails and vids but it was never enough, they were as close as brother and sister that they were basically best friends.

John and Claire would constantly send mails to each other letting the other know how they were getting on followed by the obligatory teasing of each other over any significant 'friends' that they may be seeing.

Standing there hugging Claire, John felt all of his emotions and tensions release as tears roll down from his eyes. "I missed you sis" was all that John could say.

"You ok John?" Claire asked after a minute.

"Yeah I'm fine Claire." He replied his voice braking slightly as he spoke.

Slowly he let the go of the hug and moved to look into Claire's face and showed her the first genuine smile that he had made in what felt like a very long time. Seeing him smile Claire couldn't help but smile back and grabbed him for another hug. "I just so happy that you're ok"

Turning to see Anderson walking down the hall towards them John finally let go of Claire. "Good to see you up on your feet son. We were about to sit down for some dinner you feel like joining us"

"Please John" Claire added as she held on to one of John's arms with her own and slightly pulled him towards the kitchen.

John just nodded his head and allowed himself to be guided towards the table. There wasn't much spoken between everyone eating around the table but that suited John fine. He knew that he had to start getting some normalcy back into his life and this was as good a way as any other to do that. For Claire she didn't care all that mattered was that John was here and safe, obviously not at 100% yet but still he seemed to be getting better.

John stayed there for a couple of days more before he had to return to an alliance base based in Seville. While Claire wasn't happy that she couldn't stay with John any longer she was glad for the time she got to spend with him. She had also managed to blackmail john into keeping in touch with her more often as it seemed the only way that she was ever going to let John leave her sight.

It took a couple of weeks of psych tests and rest until the alliance released him back into active duty and it was only until after a few months after that he could finally sleep a full night without waking up in the middle of the night sweating and shaking from yet another nightmare. It had taken a long time but now he finally felt that he wasn't a complete wreck obviously he still had the odd nightmare every now and again but that now only happened every other week.

His talks with Anderson had helped a lot too. The fact that he had someone to talk and vent to let him get most of the stuff that had bottled up since he made it back. It was during one of his talks to him where he asked how he could ever get over something like this.

"I'll be honest with you John you'll never truly get over something like this the pain of what happened will be with you until the day you die. Events like these are what define people either by braking them or can use it to help change you for the better but only if you are strong enough and don't let it destroy you. You will grieve for the men and women that you fought beside but I cannot promise that the pain of their loss will ever disappear but I tell you now that with time it will lessen. This may sound harsh but you owe it to the memory of your fellow marines to use this to make yourself a better man and a better marine." At hearing Anderson speak these words gave John the will to keep going and try getting his life back. Looking back now had Anderson not told him this John doubted that he would have been able to carry on.

He was given command again and was starting to really feel at home again. It had nearly been a year since the incident on Akuze and John's unit had been on a number of successful missions and according to Anderson there had been a number rumours suggesting that John might be in the running for selection into the N7 program.

To John this was a huge surprise he had no idea that the brass would feel that he was worthy of the program or that they even felt that he was mentally fit after Akuze. According to Anderson it was too early to tell but if John kept himself in the brass's good books and didn't have a massive mental break he was very likely to be asked to join the program.

Luckily John had some shore leave coming up in the next few days that he could hopefully rest and recharge so that he was ready and able both physically and mentally if the call came down. And so to that end when he finally got leave John booked a transport to the colony of Elysium, while it wasn't exactly the place to go for sun sea and sand it did however have a reputation for being a great place to spent a couple of days shore leave as was proved by the large number of off duty marines that could often be found in one of the many bars and taverns on the colony and that is exactly what John needed a place where he could drink himself silly for a couple of days and then get back to work.

When he first arrived on the planet he was surprised by how cold it was as it was just coming into the planets winter season but this was quickly remedied by a quick walk into the nearest bar. Those first two days where nothing but paradise. He spent them drinking and laughing with the other marines in the bar and then spending his nights in the warm comfort of woman whose names had been lost to the annals of time.

On the third day John had spent most of his day looking around at the sights of the colony and was near the edge of the town when the first bombardment began. First to get hit was the Alliance command on the colony; this had the effect of essentially wiping out most of the command on Elysium and leaving them open to attack.

As soon as John heard the attack begin he headed straight back into the centre of town to meet up with whatever remained of the colonies defenders to help in any way he could. He fought and bled with the colonists and remaining marines to protect the planet from what now turned out to be much more than just a raid, a massive pirate and merc force had laid siege to the colony. While John was not the highest ranking officer on site he was the most experienced and he eventually was looked to for what to do so he managed to organise and rally a defence force consisting of what remained of the marine contingent and whatever colonists capable of bearing arms around the main colony to hold off the invaders until the Alliance could send in reinforcements.

John knew that if they could hold out for just a little longer, maybe another day, then the alliance would get here but they were stretched so thin already that a breach in the defence would mean the end for them all so when he heard the report of an attack on the already weakened eastern flank he had no one else to send but himself. By then time he had gotten there most of the troops he had stationed there were already dead or dying with the pirate forces still trying to get past the makeshift blockades.

For nearly eighteen hours John held the flank single-handedly and forced the attacking ground force to retreat several times, constantly swapping his empty weapons for any he could scavenge off of fallen mercs.

When the alliance finally did come the next day their shuttles landed near the centre of the colony near the now smouldering Alliance HQ dropping off squads of marines who quickly moved to sure up the defences. Along with the troops was a command squad that began asking for who was in charge and they were immediately told of the heroics of a lowly lieutenant who rallied the defences and held the line when the battle got to its fiercest.

After the battle John was brought before Alliance command back on Earth, hailed as a war hero and given the Alliances highest honour the Star of Terra. He was paraded around as the poster boy for the Alliance and also sent to join the N7 program. Only at the beginning of his career in the marines and he had already seen and done things that most retired marines had only heard about in stories or rumours.

* * *

An N7 marine, the very best of the best and that was what John had to become to finish the program. While his basic training could hardly be described as a walk in the park either what with Gunny Ellison constantly riding him and making sure that he reached his full potential. Most everyone at basic was chewed out by Ellison but for some reason John seemed to get a lot more than most which had him wondering if Anderson had insisted he be pushed as hard as possible, which of course he would never confirm or deny.

The N7 program was the most difficult thing that John had ever experienced, even the warning from Anderson did nothing to prepare him for the mental and physical strain that he was put under. The instructors knew what they were getting, marines and individuals that have shown that they are capable of fighting against any enemy, but that alone would not get you through N7 training. An N7 candidate had to first be broken and then molded and sculpted into an angel of death. A soldier capable of getting the job done no matter the odds or opposition.

When he was awake he was pushed and tested constantly, on many occasions brought to the point that his body literally collapsed and then when he could go no more he was drilled again. If and when he was given time for rest his body ached and sleep was not always a certainty. There was many times where he feared he wouldn't survive till the next day, never mind failing and dropping out, as deaths during training seemed to be expected. But survive it he did.

Of course the first to congratulate him was Anderson; being an N7 himself he knew just how hard it was to finish and exactly what John had to go through to achieve it. Now at twenty six years John spent the next eighteen months on classified missions solving the Alliance's problem that either where too dangerous for a regular unit or one they simply just wanted to be handled quietly.

* * *

Meanwhile Claire had finished her Internship with the Alliance and had impressed her supervisors so much that she was working now as part of a new top secret project. For Claire it was heaven, it was possibly one of the few times in her life that she had happy and enjoying life as it came. She still kept in touch with John but recently the time between catching up seemed to be getting long due to John constantly being out of contact for long periods because of his missions.

She of course missed John and hoped he was not in danger, which was nearly impossible for an N7 she knew, but she was so buried in her work that most of the time she barely had time to breath. Honestly she felt privileged to be working at the very top of her field at such a young age. The work was hard but it extremely rewarding and it had opened her to a world she had never seen before. Never in her wildest dreams did she picture herself working with aliens. When she would speak to John she would constantly blush from how he would keep telling her how proud he was of her for making something out of her life.

The project was well under way but was still a number of months away from completion when she happened to have a couple of days off and was currently taking full advantage of it by lounging around in the apartment that she shared with one of the other girls that she worked with but was out at the moment. She was lying on her bed trying to decide what to do with the rest of her day when the terminal at the desk started to ping indicating an incoming call.

Walking over and sitting at the desk she answered the call to see Johns face pop up on the screen. "Hey John" she said at seeing her brother for the first time in three weeks.

"Hey sis how's Arcturus station?" John asked with a smile. He loved talking to Claire and seeing her always seemed to put a smile on his face.

"It's been great but what about you I haven't seen you in so long. I've missed you"

"Wow I never knew you cared so much for me. I should have waited another couple of days just to make you stew" he teased. He knew he missed not talking to Claire but he just couldn't pass up teasing her a little.

Claire knew he was only teasing but it still annoyed her that he seemed to be enjoying it a little too much. "John not fair." She replied giving him a stern look that that was a family trait.

"Ok ok I was only messing with you. I missed you to Claire"

"You better have. So what's up?"

"Oh nothing just got a little time off and I felt like calling my sister to check in." He replied with a cheeky smile.

"As much as I love that you called why do I get the feeling that there is something else"

"Oh well I might have a little bit of news"

"Which is?"

"Well I might have been given an XO's position on a cruiser but I didn't think it was big news."

"John that's brilliant" Claire beamed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh you know I just thought it would be pretty boring considering that you are off doing top secret projects"

"You are so not funny John. We both know your life is much more exciting than mine. So come on tell everything. Where you being posted and when"

"Well actually I'm already there just got in two days ago. You are looking at the new XO for the Tokyo."

"The Tokyo? But isn't that "

"Yep Anderson is my new CO" he said cutting her off before she could finish.

"But I was just talking to him the other day and he didn't say anything"

"Yeah I kinda told him I wanted to tell you the news so he promised not to say anything"

"So I take it now they will stop sending you on all those classified missions since you'll be needed to run the ship"

"Honestly I don't know I suppose that if they really needed me then I'll be shipped out but you never really know"

"Good hopefully from now on you'll be doing something that I won't have to worry so much about"

"Worried about me, you're the one who's still involved with all these black ops science projects. You know you've never actually told me what you're up to"

"You of all people know that I can't talk about it John"

"Oh come on Claire, you can tell me" he begged using his softest voice trying to coax any info out of her. "Even give me a hint. New weapons or armour?"

Claire loved it when she had something to hold over him, it didn't happen often but when it did it always seemed to frustrate John immensely much to her own amusement. "Oh I don't know if I can trust you with such dangerous and sensitive information for all I know you could go off and sell what I tell you to some unscrupulous individuals" she teased.

"Oh please if you had any idea of the stuff I'd done that was classed as top secret. Don't forget Claire I've been trained in some unpleasant techniques for extracting Intel from uncooperative people"

"Haha that may work on people that don't know you like I do John" she giggled.

"Come on Claire you can trust me"

"Fine but only cause you sound really annoying when you beg. I can't say too much obviously but we are working with the turians to develop a new prototype ship that'll be completely different from anything we've built before."

"Wow working with the turians that's got to be an experience. I had the pleasure of working with a squad of them before and to say they have no sense of humour is an understatement"

"Yeah tell me about it they are so intense"

"So my little sis is working on a top secret WMD with the turians, anything else I should know about. Any guys I should know about?"

"Shut up John. I'm not seeing anyone at the moment"

"Well make sure anyone who trys their luck knows that they'll be answering to an N7 if they try anything funny" he added.

"Oh grow up John. Sure what about you I'm sure there are tons of desperate women throwing themselves at the Lion of Elysium." Claire couldn't help but use the nickname that a lot of media outlets had started to call John since his heroics on Elysium.

"Haha I was only messing Claire but you know I hate that name" he winked. "So what else is new with you?"

* * *

John still stood staring out the window of his apartment provided to him by the Alliance in Vancouver while he awaited redeployment. Word had come down from HQ that Captain Anderson was being deployed on a top secret mission and at first John thought that as Staff Commander he was going to be left in charge of the Tokyo as acting Captain until Anderson returned but it turned out it was a new command for a new ship and he got to hand pick his own crew so obviously he took John with him. John wasn't privy to the rest of the crew or even what ship they would be serving on but he had been assured by Anderson that the ship was incredible and that the crew was the best of the best.

Looking at his Omni tool he saw that it was time to go so he grabbed his bag from the bed and left. Walking out of the building into the street the air still held some of the moisture from the storm earlier in the day that had just passed. Street lights began to flicker on as the last of the suns light dipped below the horizon. It hadn't been a cold day but now in the early evening a chill started to creep through the air and John could see his breath as he walked the short distance to the bay that held his new posting.

Passing through a number of security posts on his way being screened and scanned at every checkpoint John began to realise just how classified this mission was. Finally walking into the main docking bay he got the first look at the new ship where he would live and work for the foreseeable future. Quite unlike anything he had ever seen before in his life the SSV Normandy was laid out right in front of him in all her glory and splendour. He stood there for a moment just enjoying the view before his senses told him that there was someone approaching behind him only to turn around to see the ship's captain walking toward him.

Dropping his bag by his side his right hand came up on instinct to salute the man now standing in front of him. "Captain" he spoke.

"At ease Shepard. She's quite a sight isn't she." Anderson replied returning Johns salute.

"Yes she is sir. I've never seen anything like her before. Looks more like a turian cruiser than an Alliance frigate"

"Haha who do think helped build it. This is the Alliances new pet project, paid for by the Galactic Council and designed in conjunction with the turians."

"Turians sir" asked John. "I know we have pretty good relations with them at the moment but since when have they built us a ship and given us command of it"

"They haven't given us the keys yet so don't start rushing off to see what she can do. They've got one of their own here to supervise our shake down runs to see how we operate. He's one of their best and a council SPECTRE no less. His name is Nihlus, I'll introduce you to him he's really looking forward to meeting you and was impressed with all of the stuff you've been done as well"

John didn't know why but it seemed that there was something that Anderson wasn't telling him but he assumed it had something to do with him and this Nihlus. "Looking forward to it sir" was all he replied.

"Good lets go and I'll show you around and introduce you to the crew" Anderson said as he led the way onto the ship.

Walking on to the ship for the first time John took in just how different it was to any of the ships that he had served on before. After being introduced to the ships pilot who seemed to be quite different to any he'd seen fly before they moved to the CIC which was full of advanced hardware and sensors with a large Galaxy map in the middle of the deck. After talking for a moment with a number of the crew they walked down one set of stairs to the second deck where most of the living quarters where situated as well as the med-bay.

Walking first over to one of the stations where there was a single crew member working. Turning to the two of them he saluted once they reached him.

"Captain. Commander" said the marine.

"At ease lieutenant. Commander this is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko" Anderson said introducing the two men.

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir" Alenko said as he shook the hand that John offered.

"Good to meet you lieutenant" replied John.

"Alenko here is our resident combat medic so he'll look after you out there in the field" joked Anderson. "He's also pretty good with tech and has biotic abilities that should complement your own in combat"

"Is that so? I look forward to seeing what you can do lieutenant"

"We'll catch up with you later lieutenant I've got to finish showing the Commander here around"

Finally saying their farewells they left Alenko at his station and walked into the med-bay. As the doors opened John stepped in to see an elderly woman standing at a console who he assumed to be the ship's doctor talking to one of her assistants.

"Doctor I'd like to introduce our XO" Anderson said trying to get the doctors attention.

"Oh Captain I didn't hear you come in. Hello Commander, David has told me all about you" Doctor Chakwas replied with her beautiful English accent.

"It's a pleasure Doc" replied John.

"I'm just showing Shepard here around so he can get a feel for the place. I thought it wise to show him the med-bay as knowing him I can see him spending a lot of time in here" joked Anderson.

"Well I'm sure that the Commander will do his very best to try to stay out of the line of fire as much as possible. Isn't that right Commander?"

"Yes ma'am" replied John. John couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by the elderly doctor as she seemed to speak with an authoritative confidence that could only have come from years of experience of dealing with immature marines but also there was something about her that made John feel like a young child being scolded by a mother.

"Well now that you've put my XO in his place Doctor how is the crew I assume all the medical checks are done" asked Anderson.

"Yes Captain aside for the Commander who I've yet to screen for obvious reasons all crew members have been scanned and there is nothing that we need to be worried about. Apart from lieutenant Alenkos migraines and another marine who has a rash in a rather unpleasant place all crew are in perfect health. I'll have my full report ready for you by the en d of the day."

"Thank you Doctor. That will be all"

Leaving the med-bay now the two men walked across the mess towards the elevator to make their way to the lower level that held the engineering section and the landing bay/garage. Stepping into the elevator Anderson hit the button to head down before turning to John. "So what to do you think so far?"

"It's a fine ship sir. The crew all seem to have their heads screwed on, if they're as good as I think they are I'm not sure what I really will have to do around here. I doubt I'll really have much to do to get them to work to their best, you can see it in their eyes sir they are so proud to be here under your command"

"Haha that may be so but don't worry Shepard I'm sure there will be enough action to keep you occupied"

"If there is one thing I can complain about it would be how slow this elevator is sir" John replied with a smile.

"I hear that I've already had a couple of engineers look at it and they assure me that they have a solution but I'm not holding out" returned Anderson.

Finally after what was an agonizingly long time the elevator arrived at the garage level and they stepped out. "This is the garage where we've got our mako, crew lockers and quartermaster. Currently at the moment we've only got half our complement of marines but I'm sure that you'll be able to make up for any lack in numbers"

"They don't teach us to be mild mannered in N7 training you know that sir"

"No they don't. Come on I'll show you the core"

Turning to walkthrough a sealed door into the main drive core of the Normandy John was astonished to see such a large core on a ship this size. The last time he had seen one this size he had been serving a term aboard a dreadnaught. For a few moments John just stood there staring at this wonder of human ingenuity when he was brought out of it by Anderson speaking again.

"This is what makes this ship so special the drive core makes us able to run faster and for longer than any ship in the Council fleets. Plus add in our new Internal Emission Sink and we can run quick and quiet in any system we like and no one will even know we are there. This gives us the ability to perform surgical strikes deep behind enemy lines without the enemy knowing we were even there"

"If that's true sir then this ship could be used for so many different operations sir from quick attacks to intel gathering behind enemy lines"

"That it could. This section is run by our Chief Engineer Lieutenant Adams who keeps this ship running at 100 percent. He's served with me before and I've always been impressed with how he runs things. Obviously as you can imagine with a new ship like this we needed to have the best engineers available to make sure things run smoothly, so I might have requisitioned a number of the people who developed the project. I believe you are familiar with one of our Service Chiefs" said Anderson while motioning to someone standing over at a terminal.

John couldn't believe his eyes there standing on the same ship that he was going to be serving on was Claire. Without any further notice he started to walk over and was surprised when she turned and saluted with a large smile on her face.

"Commander" Claire spoke as she smiled at the brother that she had not seen in person for many months.

"At ease Chief" John said as he returned the salute."How long have you been aboard?"

"Captain Anderson had me stationed here as soon as he found out that I had worked on the development project. Figured that since I had a hand in building it then I'd be of use if something was to go wrong"

"You could have told me"

"And what ruin the surprise or the look on your face" Claire said obviously very impressed with the fact that she had surprised John.

"We felt this would be a nice surprise" Anderson added as he walked over to the pair. "Service Chief Anderson here is one of the best engineers the Alliance has at the moment so who better to help run this ship"

"Is that so?"

"Guess you're not the only Shepard that's the best in their field" Claire said with a smile. "Maybe now I'll be able to make sure you're not getting up to too much trouble from now on" she giggled.

"And what makes you think you'll be able to do that, you do know I outrank you"

"As much as I'm enjoying this family reunion we need to head up to meet with Nihlus Shepard. You can continue this later. As you were Claire." said Anderson as he turned and started heading out of engineering.

"We'll catch up later Claire ok" John added as he headed off to catch up with Anderson.

"Sure see you later John"

Catching up to Anderson at the elevator John saw what he assumed was a satisfied smirk on his face. "Thanks for the heads up"

"Haha even I know that never to takes sides against a Shepard"

"Coward" muttered John as the elevator began to ascend to the upper deck. "So what can you tell me about our mission sir?"

"Our job is to take the Normandy out to do a few test runs to check out the new systems. We'll be running out to one of our colonies and on the way we have to monitor how we are running"

"I see and what about Nihlus sir. If you don't mind my saying it seems a bit much to send a Spectre for a shakedown run". As the doors opened the two men exited and started to make their way to briefing room where Shepard assumed Nihlus was waiting for them.

"Nihlus is here representing both the Council and the Turian Hierarchy. They've both invested heavily in this project and want to make sure we are going to be putting the resources to good use"

"Understood sir" replied John as they proceeded to enter the briefing room where standing with his back to them was Nihlus standing in the middle of the room with his hands resting behind his back.

What surprised John first was the fact that he stood in full combat armour while the ship was still in port but assumed as a Spectre he always wanted to be ready for any attack at any moment.

"Captain I assume we are nearly ready to make way" Nihlus spoke while turning to acknowledge their presence.

"Yes we are just waiting for final clearance from command and then we will be under way. This is our XO Staff Commander John Shepard" said Anderson introducing John to the turian Spectre.

"Ah yes Commander I've been very looking forward to meeting you". Mandibles twitching as he looked over the human male standing in front of him. "I've read a number of the reports from many of your missions including what you did on Elysium. I look forward to seeing how you handle yourself while we complete our mission"

"Likewise" responded John.

"Right I think it's about time we get this show on the road. Commander head up to the bridge and tell Joker to get under way when the clearance comes in then come back here so we can go over the mission brief for the tests we will be running"

"Yes sir" was all that John replied before snapping a salute and turning on his heel to leave the briefing room.

Now alone in the briefing room Anderson turned to Nihlus before speaking. "So what is your first impression?"

Nihlus stood in silence for a moment still looking to where Shepard had left considering his response. "He holds himself quite well for someone who is still quite young even by your standards but that could be due to what he has experienced at places like Akuze. Tall and well built his stature must help him inspire the men he leads and I would assume intimidate those who stand in his way these will be key tools that will help him. While his combat skills and biotic ability are impressive it takes much more than that to make it as a Spectre so I shall have to see how he performs in combat situations before I make my decision"

"Well after we deliver the beacon back to the Citadel, I'm sure he'll get the chance to show you what he's capable of."

* * *

**So here is where ill explain some of my decisions for the story.**

**First I had John survive both Akuze and Elysium because I felt it would help create a different and stronger character for what I wanted in the story. I knew i didnt want a cold bastard of a character so I didn't go for Torfan.**

**Probably the strangest thing in this chapter that wasnt really explained was Kahlee and Anderson's relationship. Basicly the way I'm seeing it for the story is that they are very much together and in "wuv" but not married with Anderson still serving actively in the Alliance while Kahlee most works on research projects for the Alliance R&D on Earth. **

**Them adopting Claire served a dual purpose of becoming her guardian but also protecting her in case any Reds wanted to get back at John. And I have some cool ideas to play with about her identity further down the line.**

**And then with Claire I could really do whatever I wanted since shes my OC and had to justify her being on the normandy in the first place so I made her a super engineer.**

**Thats pretty much it so Bye-Bye until next time.**


End file.
